Posts tagged ‘banking’

With just 13 days to go until America goes over the fiscal cliff – progressives across America are asking why President Obama chose to put Social Security cuts on the bargaining table. Why is the president letting Republicans hack away at Social Security – instead of presenting progressive solutions that can help us avoid the cliff?

Michael Greenberger: If somebody understood the economic issues and explained them to the American people, you could easily be elected president by saying you’re going to put an end to the Wall Street hijinks

Richard Wolff, economist & visiting professor in the Graduate Program for International Affairs, New School University, joins Thom Hartmann. Workers in Greece went on strike Wednesday to protest another round of spending cuts under consideration by the Greek government. Public employees, teachers, medics, lawyers, and even banksters walked off their jobs and took to the streets to protest salary and pension cuts. It’s the first such strike since the new Conservative government took power in June. Yet the Greek government today unveiled it’s new austerity budget pledging to cut $11.5 billion over the next several years. So what will this latest round of cuts due to a nation that is already collapsing under the banksters demands?

Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin (authors of The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire): As long as effective demand remains low and banks demand austerity to protect their assets, the crisis will deepen.

Part Two: The Crisis and Who Has the Power

Major structural change or effective short term reforms requires addressing democratic decision making starting with making banks a public utility.

Michael Hudson (Department of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City, and author of The Bubble and Beyond): Shoveling money to the banks not meant to create jobs, it’s a way to give banks even more speculative capital and prepare them for another meltdown.